Review: Red vs. Blue Season 12 Episode 18

Well, I guess it’s true when they say, “Those with patience are rewarded.” Find out why I am going bat shit after the jump!

Spoilers Below

Yeah, I know I have been bitching a lot over how shitty the pacing has been for the last 6 episodes of RVB. I could bitch again about it, but the length of Episode 18 almost makes up for it. coming in at just over 15 minutes, it’s easily the longest episode of the season, and the length of two episodes. Ok, Rooster Teeth, you have my attention.

What this review boils down to for me is: Does Episode 18 make up for the awkwardness that left a pretty bad taste in my mouth? Well, yes, it does. This double episode gave us the whole battle, and subsequent outcome in one fell swoop. There was so much good tonight, I could hardly contain myself.

Episode 18 had the battle the whole season built towards. The Reds and Blues finally went after Felix and Locus, Kimball finally went after the Feds, and for most of the episode, shit went belly up. However, for most of Episode 18, I was in a state of awe. Most of this episode was CG work, because none of the fighting would have been possible without it. There was so much going on, it almost had to be fully CG, and I would have been okay with it. Rooster Teeth did a good job with the motion capture to make it look integrated with the game footage. Everything was so superb, I almost want to say that maybe the show should just be full motion capture from now on.  Yes, it was that good.

You couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Reds and Blues. From the word go, they were outnumbered, out skilled, and outgunned. Somehow, everyone managed to survive long enough to thwart the mercenaries’s plan. While the mercenaries have to go back to the drawing board, two questions are left: Where’s Washington, and what’ Tucker’s status? Like I said, things really went belly up before they got better.

The basis of the second half of the season was that Locus and Felix couldn’t be outsmarted. This one time, however, Felix’s cockiness got the better of him. Since he revealed himself to be working with Locus to bring down Chorus, Felix has been the cockiest character, and it was the perfect foil to Locus. Locus has been the do it by any means type of guy, and Felix just wants to revel in everything, because he can. The writing in Episode 18 was in line with the beginning of Season 12.

The climax of Season 12 was a great watch. Go on over to RoosterTeeth.com now to see the latest episodes as well. Next week is the finale, so things should wrap, and get a nice little bow. Do yourself the favor, and watch this episode. It  was easily the best fight in quite some time. It would have gotten a perfect score, but there were parts of the action that felt like could have been elaborated, but they just settled for what was there.